How did travel change in the past decade?

How much has travel changed in the past decade?

You'd be shocked.

Let's put it this way. Ten years ago, finding an internet cafe, especially overseas, was an important component of any vacation in order to keep in touch back home. Now, with the proliferation of smartphones and Wi-Fi and data plans, internet cafes have gone the way of Blockbuster.

And don't even ask about travelers checks.

British travel consultancy the Travel Aisle decided to use Google search trends to show the dramatic changes in travel in the past decade. Here are some of the findings:

Roaming charges: Remember coming home from an overseas vacation wondering how bad the cellphone bill was going to be? No longer. With Wi-Fi availability practically everywhere, keeping in touch is no longer expensive.

Exchange rates: In 2010, changing money was practically a requisite. In 2020? Credit cards and money cards are the go-to currency.

Beach holidays: Going to the beach will never be out of style. But the Google search data showed that beach holidays have been up and down over the past decade and lately has trended downward.

Solo travel: This has grown tremendously since 2010 with a rise in adventure or experiential travel.

Babymoons: Another category where the research has shown a growing trend upward. Where it used to be mostly the rich who took a prebaby vacation, now everybody is doing it.

Vegan travel: As veganism has grown, so too has this segment of foodie travel.

Airbnb: It was a fledgling entity in 2010, having been founded just two years prior. Now it's a behemoth.